Jan. 30, 2010

IRVINE, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's golf team travels to Southern California this weekend to compete in the 30th Anteater Invitational, Monday and Tuesday (February, 1-2) at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa.

Opening the year with the same lineup it used this fall, SCU will enter Scott Travers, Cory Mehl, Rick Lamb, Jimmy Cacho and Ronnald Monaco into the event - the Broncos' first of the spring season. Scott Lamb will also be playing as an individual entry.

"Even with the soggy conditions (in the Bay Area lately), the guys have been working hard to get ready," said Santa Clara head coach Robert Miller. "They know every event is important to our ranking and we are very close to being in a position to qualify for the postseason whether we win the conference championship or not."

Santa Clara - who saw Travers emerge as one of the West Coast Conference's best players - has what Miller thinks is one of the University's best teams in recent memory. The tournament marks Travers' return to his hometown and to an event he won tournament championship honors at two years ago. Travers enters the spring season ranked No. 13 nationally in the race for the GolfStat Cup.

There are three top 100 teams in the 10-team field this week: UCI, St. Mary's and Santa Clara. Miller thinks the Broncos need to move up 15 positions in the GolfStat rankings between now and mid-April to become eligible for postseason play.

The complete field: Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, along with Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary's (Calif.), Santa Clara and Sacramento State.

Thirty-six holes are scheduled for Monday with the final 18 on Tuesday at the par-71, 6,548-yard layout.